Nilambur, June 23 (IANS) Within minutes after the counting of votes started for the Nilambur Assembly by-election on Monday morning, Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath opened with a lead at both the postal votes and at the Electronic Voting Machines.

At the end of the first of 19 rounds, Shoukath has secured 3,614 votes, as per the Election Commission of India data.

Shoukath led with around 500 votes after the postal votes were taken up for counting and the first round of EVMs began.

Voting took place on June 19 when around 75.25 per cent of the 2.31 lakh total votes were polled.

The CPI(M) fielded former legislator M.Swaraj, who was trailing.

The others in the fray include two-time sitting Left independent legislator P.V. Anvar, who quit in January after differences of opinion surfaced with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The BJP fielded Mohan George first, and then he took membership in the saffron party.

The more than three-week campaign saw an intense poll battle, especially between the Left camp led by CM Vijayan. The Left Democratic Front had announced that victory is theirs and this would be the semi-final for the 2026 Assembly polls when CM Vijayan would win a third successive term.

But with votes counting gaining momentum, what has been revealed is that Anvar is trailing and has slipped down. It remains to be seen if he manages to maintain momentum, then one has to wait a bit more to see whose votes he is going to take away.

Incidentally, Nilambur has been a citadel of the Congress since its inception in 1965, with Shoukath’s father, Aryadan Mohammed, winning it a record eight times and losing thrice.

Moreover, the CPI(M) all along has banked on supporting independent candidates, and it last won on its party symbol in 1977. After that, it was only in 2006 that the CPI(M) fielded its own candidate.

At the end of the first round, Swaraj had polled 3,195, Anvar had 1,588 votes, and the BJP’s George with 400 votes.

–IANS

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